Knees are key for Smith & Nephew

SALES of Smith & Nephew's fast-moving knee replacements capped a strong set of half-year figures from the medical devices group.

The group impressed the City with a 13% rise in like-for-like pre-tax profits to £94m. The shares were among the highest risers in the FTSE 100 index, up 6p to 342p.

Star products were the company's range of knee and hip replacements. Knee sales were up 37% while hip sales grew 16%. Overall sales at the orthopaedics division rose by a fifth 'and show no signs of diminishing'.

There was also a strong performance from the wound management division, which mainly makes dressings for bedsores.

Chairman Dudley Eustace said: 'All businesses are performing well and demand for all our products continues to be strong worldwide. Our sales performance was robust in all our businesses and our orthopaedics division was again the fastestgrowing manufacturer of hip and knee replacements.'

The interim dividend is raised from 1.75p to 1.8p.